Travis Rodney Birt (born 9 December 1981) is an Australian former

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. A left-handed batsman, Birt represented the Australian national under-19 team before making his debut for

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

during the 2003–04 season. Strong form at state level led to his selection for Australia A during the 2006 off-season, as well as a two-year stint with

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

in English county cricket. Birt transferred to

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

for the 2011–12 season, but has found more success in the

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

format, variously representing the

Wellington Firebirds The Wellington Firebirds are one of six New Zealand men's first-class cricket teams that make up New Zealand Cricket. It is based in Wellington. It competes in the Plunket Shield first class (4-day) competition, The Ford Trophy domestic one d ...

, Delhi Daredevils, Nagenahira Nagas, and

Khulna Royal Bengals Khulna Tigers () is a franchise Twenty20 cricket team representing the Khulna division in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), a Twenty20 cricket tournament. The franchise was owned by Gemcon Sports and was founded in 2016 as a replacement for th ...

in New Zealand, Indian, Sri Lankan, and Bangladeshi domestic tournaments, respectively. Birt made his

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

debut for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in February 2010, and played a total of four matches for the team, with his last international match coming in February 2012. In December 2015 Travis Birt was selected in the Perths Scorchers squad against

Brisbane Heat The Brisbane Heat are an Australian professional franchise men's and women's cricket team, competing in Australia's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition, the Big Bash League (BBL). The Heat are the successors of the Queensland Bulls who playe ...

in BBL 5. He was selected as a local replacement player for Nathan Coulter-Nile.

Early cricket career

Birt secured a reputation for brutal strokeplay when he posted 145 against

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

in 2004–05, the highest score in Tasmania's one-day history. He made his first-class debut in the same season but had to wait until the following year to feel at ease at the next level. After an outstanding 2005–06 season in which he was selected for the

Australia A cricket team The Australia A cricket team is a cricket team representing Australia and is the second team of the Australian cricket team. In the Australian summer of 1994–95, the (then) Benson and Hedges World Series Cup was expanded to involve four teams ...

, Birt produced a couple of consistent if unexceptional seasons for Tasmania. His main problem has been an inability to turn starts into first-class centuries. In 2006–07 he was part of Tasmania's triumphant

Pura Cup The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Lord Sheffield. Prior to the Shield bei ...

side and made 736 runs at 38.73 with one hundred, and the next season he collected 565 runs at 31.38 without once reaching triple-figures. A former Academy and Australia Under-19 player who relocated from country Victoria, Birt has spent time playing with

but did not return there in 2008 and instead had hip surgery during the off-season.

International debut

On 5 February 2010, Birt made his Twenty20 International, and subsequent international debut for Australia, against

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as the 'G, is a sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, the Lis ...

. He failed to make an impact, scoring only one run before being bowled by acting Pakistani captain

Shoaib Malik Shoaib Malik ( Punjabi, (; born 1 February 1982) is a Pakistani cricketer who played for the Pakistan national cricket team and currently plays for Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). He was the captain of the Pakistan nati ...

. Birt was retained in the side for the second and final Twenty20 match at

Bellerive Oval Bellerive Oval, currently known as Ninja Stadium for Naming rights, sponsorship reasons, is a Cricket field, cricket oval and Australian rules football ground located in Bellerive, Tasmania, Bellerive, a suburb on the eastern shore of Hobart, T ...

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

—his home ground. However, he could only manage 13 from ten balls, as Australia completed a 2–0 sweep. Despite being dropped for the First Twenty20 International against New Zealand in Wellington, Birt was recalled for the second match where he did not bat. At the end of both innings' the scores were tied, before New Zealand won courtesy of a super-over, levelling the series 1–1.

Move to Western Australia

In 2011, Birt moved to Western Australia. He had also signed up to play for the Hobart Hurricanes in the

Big Bash League The Big Bash League (BBL), also known as the KFC Big Bash League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Australia. Established in 2011 by Cricket Australia, the Big Bash League replaced the previous competitio ...

. In 2015 Birt was given a BBL recall after a few strong performances in the WACA statewide 20/20 competition for Claremont Nedlands Cricket Club. In the second round of the qualifying Birt hit 136 off just 53 deliveries as Claremont Nedlands defeated Scarborough by 104 runs with a team that included

Andrew Tye Andrew James Tye (born 12 December 1986) is an Australian cricketer who plays One Day Internationals (ODIs) and Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) for the Australian national cricket team. At the domestic level he plays for Western Australia crick ...

Career highlights

In 2012, in the KFC Big Bash match between Hobart Hurricanes and Melbourne Stars, Birt scored the fastest 50 in Australian Domestic T20 Cricket. In this match, Birt struck 50 runs off 22 balls, eclipsing the mark set earlier in the same match by Luke Wright of the Melbourne Stars who scored 50 runs off 23 balls.Fastest BBL ton at the Wright time for Stars
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Birt, Travis 1981 births Australia Twenty20 International cricketers Australian cricketers Cricketers from Victoria (state) Delhi Capitals cricketers Australian expatriate cricketers in India Derbyshire cricketers Australian expatriate cricketers in England Hobart Hurricanes cricketers Khulna Tigers cricketers Australian expatriate cricketers in Bangladesh Living people Nagenahira Nagas cricketers Australian expatriate cricketers in Sri Lanka Northern Districts cricketers Sportspeople from Sale, Victoria Tasmania cricketers Wellington cricketers Western Australia cricketers 21st-century Australian sportsmen